TOUGH TRIPS NORTH FOR PIRATES

Poole head north this week for two meetings in two different competitions over two days when they face Glasgow in the SGB Championship on Friday before dropping down to Berwick to complete the MAXi Cab Knockout Cup semi-final tie.

Promoter Dan Ford is in no doubt as to how tough the meetings are going to be for the Pirates:

"We’ve got two tough meetings ahead this weekend. It’s unfortunate to lose Will to his SGP2 commitments, but that’s a fantastic opportunity for him and we’ve got two solid guests coming in with Jordan Jenkins on Friday and Simon Lambert on Saturday. It’s great to have Richard back, although it’s disappointing that Fraser has aggravated his injury again, so we’ll be using rider replacement.

“At Glasgow, we’ve built ourselves a healthy aggregate lead but we’ll still be going there to win the meeting, not just defend it.

“Berwick is a different challenge altogether. A four-point lead isn’t much around Shielfield, where they’re always a strong side. We’ll need to be at our very best if we’re going to finish the job and reach the final.”

Memories of last October and that nerve-jingling Grand FInal which saw Poole crowned second tier league champions for the fourth time in five seasons, will no doubt come flooding back when the Pirates roll into Ashfield. The Tigers currently sit proudly at the top of the SGB Championship league table but have ridden more matches than most of their rivals, and four more than the Pirates. 

A win for Poole would see them go top as they hold a 20-point lead from the corresponding fixture at Wimborne Road. They go into the meeting without Wednesday night's Rider of the Night William Cairns due to his involvement with the SGP2 series and Fraser Bowes who aggravated his back injury on Wednesday and faces another week on the sidelines. RIder replacement will operate for the Australian whilst Jordan Jenkins steps in to the Poole side to cover for Cairns. 

Glasgow will be without Mario Hausl for the same reason as Cairns and they have drafted in Jack Smith a s a guest.

The Pirates have a much smaller margin to defend on Saturday night as their advantage is just four points and Berwick are unbeaten at Shielfield Park since early August last year - a string of eight successive home wins to their name.

Teams:

Glasgow - (TM Cameron Brown) 1 Chris Harris 2 Sam Hagon 3 Leon Flint 4 Kevin Juhl-Pedersen 5 Kyle Howarth 6 Jack Smith (G) 7 Freddy Hodder
Poole - (TM Gary Havelock) 1 Richard Lawson 2 Rider Replacement 3 Lewis Kerr 4 Cooper Rushen 5 Zach Cook 6 Jordan Jenkins (G) 7 Kyle Newman

Berwick - (TM Stewart Dickson) 1 Peter Kildemand 2 Jye Etheridge 3 Victor Palovaara 4 Rider Replacement 5 Nick Morris 6 Jack Smith 7 Jordan Jenkins
Poole - (TM Gary Havelock) 1 Richard Lawson 2 Rider Replacement 3 Lewis Kerr 4 Cooper Rushen 5 Zach Cook 6 Simon Lambert (G) 7 Kyle Newman